Manchester United have been backed as making the right decision after deciding against a transfer move for Bologna striker Marko Arnautovic.
That’s the analysis from Fabrizio Romano, writing in his exclusive column for CaughtOffside today, with the Italian reporter detailing how this deal ended up falling through.
Arnautovic was a player well known by Erik ten Hag from their time together at FC Twente, but Romano has confirmed reports that fan backlash proved key to persuading Man Utd to walk away from this move.
The Austria international was a surprise target for the Red Devils, with the news of the club’s interest going down very badly on social media.
It seems United listened to their fans on this one, and Romano believes they made the right choice.
“Arnautovic is appreciated by Erik ten Hag because he has known him since his time at Twente, but Manchester United after a £7m opening bid have decided to leave the negotiations due to the high cost and the complaints of the fans,” Romano explained.
“Bologna expected United to submit a new bid for Arnautovic, but there was a very negative response to the deal and this clearly filtered through to the club.
“In my opinion, Man United have made the right decision because the expectations are on other players and – with all respect – not on Arnautovic.”
It’s certainly true that MUFC surely need a bigger talent up front than Arnautovic, who is 33 years of age and who has not played at a particularly high level for some time now, even if he did show some moments of promise in spells at Stoke City and West Ham earlier in his career.